Erik Mundahl was apparently insecure about somebody else sending test results, so he headed out for a kick wax test in Anchorage yesterday afternoon. It was warm (for Anchorage) with falling high moisture snow – a good opportunity to test some of the stuff I wrote about in last season’s post on waxing in near-zero conditions. Without linking each individual item (tedious), it’s worth noting that you can read further descriptions on most of these products at out e-commerce side at http://shop.caldwellsport.com/.Without further preamble, I present Mundahl’s unexpurgated (but annotated – my thoughts in red) test report.
Hillside Trails: Anchorage, Alaska – At least we’re not skiing at Hatcher Pass anymore! Suitable snow conditions in Anchorage have developed over the past several weeks. Conditions throughout town had remained firmly in the “rock ski” territory though.
The evening post-work ski was supposed to be an easy 80 minute classic jaunt. However, a last afternoon snow squall kicked up with some decent accumulation on the ground by the time I left the office. A quick stop by the trails on my way home convinced me that trail conditions had improved significantly and a longing gaze into the kick wax box inspired me to go out and test a few things.
Conditions were bordering on those dreaded by nearly all waxers. Air temperatures were hovering around -1°C and snow temperatures were at -1.5°C. Heavy snow was falling. The snow was fairly moisture laden and the trail was glazing over as soon as it was skied on. No better opportunity to try to figure out some kick waxes.
Perusing the wax box resulted in the following kick waxes tested:
- Rode Top Line VO
- Rode Top Line VPS
- Vauhti K15
- Vauthti K12 covered with Vauhti K15
- Rode Violet
- Swix VR50
- Vauhti Super Base/Rode Viola Extra 50/50 mix covered with M3R premix.
- Vauhti Super Base/Star Racing Red 50/50 mix covered with M3R premix.
The super-base mixes were my suggestion – or at least, the viola extra was. Erik didn’t have the Vauhti synthetic red which I like using for mixing. The M3R is a homemade pre-mix that I make in the shop. It has its days. I used it on Sophie’s skis in the World Champs sprint last winter.
No tracks were set on the trails and testing was done on a mix of glazed snow from numerous skiers skating and lots of fresh, falling snow.
The Rode Top Line VO was too slick, the Rode Top Line VPS was slow and iced quickly. The Rode violet did not ice, but felt quite slow. Swix VR50 iced almost immediately. Sounds tricky! At this point I would have tossed the M3R out of any test, because it represents a considerable icing danger (but it IS really fast when it doesn’t ice).
Vauhti K15 was extremely slick. However, the Vauhti K12 covered with K15 was very good. Kick was solid in glazed areas but in softer conditions felt loose. Speed on this combo was quite good. No kidding, K15 was slick! K15 is great in new snow, but it operates more in the blue range than the violet range. For the record, I recommended the K12/K15 combo – NOT straight K15. Erik must have wanted to prove that K15 is slick in violet conditions. Again.
The two complicated mixes were a complete unknown. The Rode Viola Extra version had what felt like good kick and good glide both in glazed and soft snow conditions. However, it was slower than the Vauhti K12 with K15 cover. Bummer – that’s the basewax mix I recommended when Erik didn’t have synthetic red. I almost just said straight Rode Violet. I should have said straight Rode Violet.
The Star Racing Red version was found to be both faster and have better kick than the Rode Viola Extra version. Yeah, yeah… It was also faster than the Vauhti K12 with K15 cover. Over about a 40-minute period of skiing though, the Racing Red mix began to slowly accumulate ice. That would have been the M3R. Like I said, it’s prone to icing. But usually it clumps right up, and you can identify the danger early and quickly. I stopped to remove ice, and applied two very small drops of Red Hydrex liquid on top of the kick wax. Good call, and a very Finnish move for a guy with so much Norwegian blood in him. Skiing again, this immediately stopped the accumulation of ice with only a minor loss in kick. It also noticeably increased ski speed. After having been out skiing for almost two hours, I did not ski long enough to see the durability of the Hydrex.
Overall results were as follows:
1) Vauhti Super Base/Star Racing Red 50/50 mix covered with M3R premix.
2) Vauthti K12 covered with Vauhti K15
3) Vauhti Super Base/Rode Viola Extra 50/50 mix covered with M3R premix.
4) Rode Violet
5) Rode Top Line VO
6) Vauhti K15
7) Rode Top Line VPS
8) Swix VR50
My immediate thought is that the binder/drywax cushion put the M3R in play. In these conditions it can be tempting to chase kick with more cushion (additional layers of wax), which is when you start slowing things down and getting real icing concerns. I bet M3R alone would have been too slick, or immediately icing, depending on the thickness. The Violet Extra modification clearly softened the super-base too much, while the racing red mix seems to have been about right.
My second impression is that the K12/K15 mix seems safe, stable (VERY low icing risk) and like the best bet in these conditions if you need to reproduce a wax job on additional pairs of skis. In the case of that mix the K15 is providing the viscosity in the underlayer that we’re getting from the super-base mixes. I think it’s no surprise that the best three wax jobs all had a high viscosity underlayer. I bet the kick on that K12/K15 mix could have been brought up without sacrificing speed if some super base were added to the K12. I’ll have to try that one.